Closest Thing to Fall in Vegas

Fall in Nevada=75 degrees, wind, dirt, fake pumpkin patches. This ranch had placed pumpkins all over the ranch to make it look like fall. It also had pony rides, hayrides, animals to pet, and a nice buffet of treats (goldfish, peanuts, pickles, and tortilla chips). Although it was nothing like Utah's cornmazes and pumpkin patch, we had tons of fun.

Sariah wants to be a cowgirl when she grows up. She would make a cute one, dont you think?

Kristen still had a hint of her childhood tonight. She wanted to go on a pony ride and do a fish pond. I asked her if she thought she was too big for this, and she said "no way." Glad to see she is not "all teenager" yet.

Arianna was in heaven. She loves animals. She got to pet/feed goats, donkeys, horses, and ponies. This donkey tried to eat her hair. She was just a giggling and a giggling.

Las Vegas Fun

Las Vegas Temple-We let the kids touch the temple, so that it could touch them back.

First day of school in Nevada

Red Rock Canyon-very hot. We could only stay for a few minutes, but it was beautiful. We will have to go back in the cooler weather.

Simple pleasures

I love the quote by Euripides, "the greatest pleasure of life is love." I decided that I needed to awaken my mind to the simple pleasures in life, and to feel more love from those around me. I realized that I have been dwelling on the negatives and missing all of the positives. When I chose this mindset it was amazing to find what has brought me pleasure. For my own record I am writing just a few.

1. Sariah: We were playing Old Maid a few nights ago. While playing for her first time ever, Sariah got the Old Maid very first. She started giggling and began looking at us. My cousin asked her if she had the Old Maid and she just couldn't lie, she said "YYEEESss". She started to laugh, and then like most of us did when we were kids, she held that Old Maid up higher than the rest of the cards to make sure that my cousin would pick it. So my cousin very valiantly selected that Old Maid (wink, wink), and Sariah began to giggle so hard that we all broke out into laughter. I found joy in this.

2. Arianna: Last night Arianna began to stare at my feet. I started to ask her what she was doing, when all of the sudden she ran off. She returned a few minutes later with some lotion in hand and said, "Mom, I know that dad usually rubs your feet and puts lotion on them when they are dry, and I was wondering if I could do this for you." So she lovingly rubbed my dry, grose feet with lotion. I found joy in this.

3. Kristen: Besides always being willing to babysit for free, she has picked up cooking. She came to me at lunchtime and asked what we wanted for lunch. Before I knew it, she had made lunch for all of us. She has also been willing to pick up extra chores without complaint. I have found joy in this.

4. Friends/family: I have recently had many people drop in to check on me and invite me to spend time with them. I have felt so much love from those surrounding me. I think that people come into our life right when we need them the most. Thanks to those who have felt inspired to be with me, and have followed those promptings.

5. Husband: He has so diligently called me a couple of times a day. Even though he hates to talk on the phone, he has made sure that he has given me plenty of time to talk and share my feelings. He has been great at complimenting me and making sure I feel loved. I find so much joy in his love.

Well enough for now, but I have felt much happier with these new set of eyes.

What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas

Well,

What happened in Vegas was moving Kevin. What stayed in Vegas was Kevin. Unfortunately he remains there and we remain in Utah. Apparently Arianna is a daddies girl, because she has cried every night for him. This makes me cry, and I even saw him today. We are a house full of emotional girls. I hope that no one is wanting to come and spend "happy time" with us.

So, while I was in Las Vegas I decided to go running by myself. While I was running I had to go the bathroom really bad. I saw a restroom about a half a mile away so I decided to speed up and make a pit stop. As I got to the bathroom (which, by the way, I barely made it to in time), a big burly man came running up close to me and scared me to death. He was talking loudly to himself and throwing his arms all over the place. I thought "Oh great he is going to rape and murder me, and no one is going to know that I am missing until Kevin gets home from work, and then it will be way to late to save me (a little dramatic I know, but you should have seen the man)." Well, after hiding in the stalls for awhile I came out and he was stopped a few feet away from me. I began to panic and wonder what I was to do. I was a couple of miles away from his cousin's house and there was no escape. Lucky for me, he turned around a began to walk the other way. I waited for awhile for him to gain some distance from me and I began to run home. I made it home successfully, without any incidents. I then thought about how I was going to feel when I actually moved down to Vegas. Hopefully I will be able to find a running partner. No one is going to measure up to Jen. She has been the best partner ever. I am trying to talk her into moving to Vegas with us. She has declined everytime. How rude!

So, no success for selling our house as of yet. I am beginning to wonder what this is all about. I have felt strongly that it is going to sell soon, but what does "soon" mean. We are trying to have faith and do what the Lord wants us to, so at times I get discouraged with the lack of interest in our home, especially when I hear that other homes in our area are selling. I just want to be with Kevin, and I wonder if that it too much to ask. I already miss him terribly, and we are only on day one of his absence. What am I to do?

Cami and I turned 33 on Tuesday and we decided to go to the tulip festival with our children (who happen to be off track for four weeks). About half of the tulips were in bloom. It was beautiful.



I took these lovely pics with my new phone camera. Only problem is, I do not know how to zoom in. So, you cannot see my children very well. We had fun anyways. We were all super hot and we discussed how fun it is going to be in the heat of Vegas. What are we thinking?

Every birthday I am reminded how high maintenance I am as a wife. I always expect some grandiose birthday extravanganza (not really, just the perfect gift), and to my wondering surprise, not what I expected. I feel so disappointed, and then I feel bad for Kevin, because he really does try. I just want him to be inside of my head and think like me :-). I know that I expect too much and I am trying to reframe my thinking, but my mom was always so good at getting us the perfect surprise. Poor guy, he just hates holidays because he feels like he can never do anything right. Is there any hope for us?

Yeah,

May 7, 2009=GRADUATION. I thought that it would never come. Kevin said that it went fast, and it was not as hard as he thought it was going to be (I was glad to hear that!). Do you all remember how skeptical he was about me going in the first place? Well we made it. My last day of the semester is April 24, 2009. It is so close.

For those of you that would like to attend the MSW convocation it is at 7:30pm at the Kingsbury Hall. Anyone is welcome, but no one needs to feel obligated to come.

Moving

I dont know if anyone has noticed, but there is a FOR SALE sign in the yard.

Yes, we are moving. Kevin has accepted a job offer in Las Vegas. Why Las Vegas you ask? Well we are not sure why. I know some of you think that we are crazy, but we both kept having these feelings to check into the area and the employment. We went to Vegas last weekend and we searched for homes and jobs. Kevin happened to call an individual that he worked with when he worked on projects with Arco Electric. This individual told him that they were just discussing the possibility of hiring someone to do estimating. They had not planned on it entirely, but they told him to come a get an interview with the company owners. Apparently they liked him because they offered him a position. He will get better pay and benefits. He was so excited. I also was offered a job, but was unable to take it because I have to finish my schooling (I cant wait for June to come). We looked at houses and found that there were some great deals on homes. We found two areas that we would like to live in. One is Henderson and the other is Mountains Edge. They both have perks. The only hangup is our current home. We have had a few people interested and one family that wants to buy. We will see what happens. We just might be homeless for a while. GOOD THING MY TWIN LOVES ME.

Kevin will be leaving in May and the girls and I will be finishing up school and leaving the first week of July. I am so nervous about it all. I feel at peace with the decision, but I also feel anxious. I know no one down thereI would get all spiritual on you and tell you some of the great testimony experiences that I have had throughout this experience, but it would take too long and some of you might not want to hear about it.

Those of you that love Carl and Ruth know that this will be an upheaval in their lives as well. We have had long discussions with them about this and they feel that it is right also. Ruth started having feelings that she needed to prepare for moving months ago. We did not know this. We will be paying them some money and they will build an apartment in their daughter's home, Freda. We will miss having them so close to us.

My girls have expressed that they are only excited if we can have a swimming pool at the house that we buy. I think that it began to hit when we visited, and they became anxious. Arianna said that she will really miss her friends and family. "How will we have a family party for my birthday if we have no family around?" That seemed to be her biggest worry. I have fretted and worried about the way my girls will handle this move. I do not want them to experience any trauma because of this. I just keep praying that they will find good friends.

Well that is enough for now. I hope that this answers some questions for all. If not, call me. I will miss everyone this has been a great ward and place to live.

BABY

My baby is not such a baby anymore. She is seven tomorrow. Happy birthday baby! I just love S. She says the funniest things. One day we were attending my brothers ward for a baby blessing, and Kevin was able to sit with us for once. S turned to me and said "Mom do women ever sit on the stand?" I said "No why?" She replied with a "well I wish they would, I would rather sit by daddy." I told her that he would be more strict than I am, and besides he would probably just sleep. She said "that's ok, I would be extra quiet for daddy."
Well anyways, I am sad to say that children do grow fast. I miss the little feet running around the house. I miss the coloring on the walls. I miss the baby sounds and smells. And looking back I wished I had enjoyed the moment more. My new goal is to cherish every moment.

Not your normal groundhogs day

You guessed it Groundhog's day is special to Kevin and I. It is our anniversary. It has been thirteen years. I sat up that night thinking about the past thirteen years. I contemplated what it was that made me love Kevin even more now then I did when we first married. I decided that it was all of the things that I first felt annoyed with, that make me love him now. In honor of our thirteen years, I am going to list thirteen things:

1. The way he leaves his socks all over the house.....I use to be so annoyed by this, but now I appreciate it because it is a sign that he is home to stay for a while.

2. The way he paces all over the house when he talks on the phone....I use to have to leave the room when he did this, but now I just follow him around and try to distract his train of thought (He loves this!)

3. The way he refused to get something unless it was the best.....I grew up trying to get the cheapest things, but now I realize that the nice things last so much longer that now we actually save money.

4. The way he always has to perform some routine maintenance on the car.....I hate spending money on cars, but now I realize that our cars last longer and have less problems because of it.

5. The way he tells me "If it's not something nice, I dont want to hear it"......I use to feel offended by this. I thought that he did not care about my feelings, but now I know that he would stand up for anyone and he is so kindhearted.

6. The times he wakes up in the middle of the night acting out his dreams....I use to be frightened by this, but now I start acting out his dream with him. We have quite the entertainment going on.

7. The way he does not worry about anything......I worry about everything and I use to feel that it was a sign of weakness to be so carefree, but now I realize that it is a strength.

8. The way he tells me I look good all of the time, no matter what weight I am......I use to feel that this was a fake compliment, but now I realize that from the way he looks at me, I know it is true.

9. The way he is always so willing to help EVERYONE.....I use to feel that he was placing us last, but now I realize that he loves everyone and he really cares, even about us.

10. His quiet ways....I use to be a person that needed to have something to say all of the time, but now I realize how comfortable silence can be with the ones you love. I learn a lot about Kevin by being quiet and observing him.

11. The way he trusts everyone.....I always wondered why he was so naive to his surroundings, but I have since realized that he is just non-judgemental. He really sees only the good in other people.

12. The way he always wanted to go to movies on our dates.....but now I think that I enjoy this even more then Kevin. I love to be able to sit right next him for hours.

13. His sense of humor.....but now I have the same one as him. We even say the same things. I think that after years of marriage you really do become one.

These are just a few of the things that I love so much about Kevin. If you would have asked me twelve years ago, I would have said these were the things that frustrated me, but now they endear me to him. I always have this fear that he is going to die. He is too perfect sometimes, and I am just waiting for him to be translated. When I think this way I think of all of the things that I would miss about him if he were gone, and these are just 13. I love you Honey.

5 Ways to Tell if Your Kids Are Bored

As many of you know my children have been off track for three weeks. This just so happened to be the week I went back to school and my internship. So let's just say that they have had some time to be bored.

Here are the top 5 ways to tell if your children are bored (I speak from experience):

1. You come home from school and your children have cleaned the entire house without being asked.
2. Your children get invited to go to swimming lessons with their cousins and to swim for a half hour, and your children act like it is Christmas. They even wake up at three in the morning and start running around the house giggling.
3. They get sick of watching television.
4. They become amoebas and will not leave your side when you return home.
5. They fight, fight, and fight and once they are done fighting, they fight some more.

Well, that is how I know that my children are bored. Can I just say that I have had some extreme guilt with being gone. I have even thought about quitting, because I do not want to scar my children, but then I realize that I only have four more months. I can do it, RIGHT?

Show me the money

This is your chance to give me some great advice. Does anyone have any great ways of getting something for nothing? ;-) I mean, pinching pennies. As many of you know, Kevin lost his job on Friday. AAAAHHHH! I know there are those that cut coupons, but I just dont have enough time these days to even look at the newspaper. I could use a phone call when things are on sale (You know, KELLOGS cereal for $1.00). If anyone wants to take this calling on I would love you forever.

Do you ever feel like you are at your breaking point, and then something else happens? Well I had just about had the worst week, and then I came home on Friday to find Kevin jobless. Not to mention , my supervisor (whom I get sound advice from), at work, was gone all week and I had some crazy experiences with suicidal clients, if you want to hear more about this let me know, it is a whole other story. I dont know if the full moon got to people or what. I think that we are supposed to learn something-Maybe we just need to be humbled.

I started school last week, only to find that this semester is going to be about the most consuming experiences of my life. SORRY FAMILY, I hope you remember what I look like.

On the bright side, Kevin was offered a job today, but it is quite a cut in pay. I feel sick inside, yet something tells me that it is going to be ok. I just gotta have faith, faith , faith! (I was just singing this song in my head- join in). I know that we are still so much better off than most people. I need to remember this. Well, I will keep you posted!

Missing Jacket

Does anyone recognize this jacket? I hope so because it does not look so attractive on Kevin. Please help us find it's home!